Chapter 299: Remote Access
Over the next several days, Liam discovered something deeply satisfying.
Arik could, in fact, find time for him.
Not unlimited time. Nuria still demanded most of Arik’s waking hours, and the Core continued settling deeper into his ether with every passing day. But breakfast no longer disappeared beneath reports. When Arik crossed behind Liam’s chair, a hand inevitably settled on his shoulder or brushed through his hair. Kisses stopped being abbreviated acknowledgments delivered on the way to another meeting.
And at night, Arik came back to him.
Repeatedly.
Was Liam repenting for provoking a suppressed rut during a national-security meeting?
No.
Was he even mildly regretful that the consequences had extended through several nights afterward?
Not remotely.
His body had opinions about the matter every morning, but that was a separate issue.
Mezos questioned his judgment anyway.
"You sent him photographs during a border meeting."
Liam glanced sideways at him as they crossed the underground security level beneath the eastern palace complex. "You weren’t there."
"Severin told me."
Walking ahead of them, Severin showed no sign of remorse.
Liam adjusted the high collar of his cream sweater beneath the dark coat Rubis had insisted upon because the lower security levels were colder than the residence above. "Then you already know the meeting concluded successfully."
"That is not the relevant part."
"It seems highly relevant."
Mezos gave him a long look.
His injured hand remained supported by a slim black brace extending from wrist to palm, though he had regained enough movement to manipulate controls again. The rest of him looked increasingly like a soldier rather than a recovering patient: dark tactical trousers, fitted jacket, hair pulled securely away from his face, and the expression of someone deeply offended that physicians still prohibited him from carrying his normal weapons.
Liam suspected the brace would mysteriously disappear the moment nobody was watching.
Severin stopped before a reinforced door.
"Enough."
The lock recognized him, then Mezos. Liam required a temporary authorization attached to Arik’s sovereign clearance before the thick panels separated.
The operations chamber beyond had been constructed inside several layers of ether shielding.
A curved wall of displays dominated the room. Most were dark except for the central projection showing Felix’s palace from above: pale stone, enclosed courtyards, long abandoned gardens, and the dark geometry of containment formations surrounding the entire estate.
Nobody had entered since Arik dragged Liam away.
Arik’s order had been absolute.
No living person crossed the perimeter until they understood what the palace recognized, what remained active inside it, and why it had identified Liam as an authorized vessel.
Machines could take the risk instead.
On the largest screen, a compact drone waited outside the palace gates.
It was ugly.
Liam approved.
No unnecessary casing, no decorative finish, no attempt to make it elegant. Four reinforced propulsion units surrounded a dense central body packed with visual sensors, ether-spectrum monitors, atmospheric samplers, and disposable probes.
"If it stops responding, we abandon it," Severin said.
Liam moved to the central console. "Obviously."
"If something takes control of it, we destroy it."
"Also obvious."
"If the palace opens a route into somewhere that should not physically exist—"
"I am not climbing through the monitor, Severin."
Mezos folded his arms.
"You say things like that as though they require clarification because of everyone else."
Liam ignored him.
The containment formation around his own corruption gave a faint pulse beneath his skin as the drone activated.
For days, Felix had occupied two separate parts of Liam’s life.
One was private and infuriating: the contamination preventing the ceremony, forcing barriers into a bond where Liam wanted none.
The other was technical.
That one Liam understood how to attack.
Find the mechanism.
Define the system.
Take it apart until nothing mysterious remained.
Mezos moved into the primary control position. Despite his injured hand, his movements were precise as he brought the propulsion system online and transferred the sensor feeds onto separate displays.
The drone rose.
Its camera crossed the outer wall first.
Nothing happened.
Dead gardens passed underneath: leafless ornamental trees, pale pathways nearly hidden beneath years of debris, and fountains whose water had evaporated long ago.
"Atmosphere normal," Severin reported.
"Ether background isn’t," Liam said.
A thin graph climbed along the lower display.
Not enough to trigger containment protocols, but enough to prove the palace was not dormant.
Mezos slowed the drone as it approached the main entrance.
The doors remained closed.
"We use the same access Liam approached?" he asked.
Severin nodded. "Exterior survey first. Then entrance."
The drone moved along the facade.
Liam leaned forward.
Felix’s palace had looked unsettling when viewed from outside before. Through the drone feed, stripped of human scale and pheromones and the instinctive awareness of standing before something dangerous, it became easier to examine.
Old Nurian architecture beneath later modifications.
Ether conduits embedded into window frames.
Several decorative carvings that were not decorative at all.
"Stop."
Mezos halted immediately.
Liam enlarged the image.
A narrow line ran beneath the stone around one window, almost invisible unless the spectrum filter was active.
"That is a transmission formation."
Severin came closer.
"For communication?"
"Maybe."
Liam changed filters.
The line continued beyond the window, disappearing into the palace wall.
"No. Internal distribution."
"Ether?"
"I don’t know yet."
That answer bothered him less than it once would have.
Not knowing simply meant they had found something worth understanding.
Mezos resumed the flight.
They completed one slow circuit before bringing the drone down in front of the main doors.
For several seconds, nothing changed.
Then the palace reacted.
One of the displays flashed.
The ether background surged.
Liam’s mark burned.
He caught the edge of the console.
Severin turned toward him immediately. "Liam?"
"I’m fine."
The containment around Felix’s corruption had tightened automatically.
On-screen, the palace doors opened and withdrew inward, as if someone was expecting the visitor.
Nobody spoke.
Mezos stared at the feed, jaw tightening.
"The drone has no biological signature."
Liam looked at the sensor data.
"No."
There was nothing Felix’s palace should have recognized.
Yet the entrance stood open.
Beyond it waited a long, dark corridor.
Mezos carefully advanced the drone across the threshold.
The lights inside came on one by one.
Liam felt something cold settle beneath his ribs.
Severin’s voice lowered.
"It knows we’re here."
Liam watched the corridor appear across the screens.
"No," he said.
His eyes fixed on the readings climbing beside the image.
"I think it can travel through the transmission of ether."